Van Sant, Gus

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.

VAN SANT, Gus

Nationality: American. Born: Louisville, Kentucky, 24 July 1952. Education: Studied painting, then switched emphasis to film, and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. Career: Began making films using a Super-8 camera, 1964; worked as an assistant to Roger Corman, and made commercials for a New York advertising agency, 1970s-80s; made numerous short films and his first independent feature, Mala Noche, mid-late 1980s; earned acclaim with the independent feature Drugstore Cowboy, 1989; worked on the preproduction of The Mayor of Castro Street, based on Randy Shilts's book about the murdered gay rights activist/politician Harvey Milk, but left the project; directed video for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Awards: Berlin Film Festival Teddy-Best Short Film, for My New Friend, 1984; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Independent/Experimental Film or Video Award, for Mala Noche, 1985; Berlin Film Festival Teddy-Best Short Film, for Five Ways to Kill Yourself, 1987; Best Screenplay Independent Spirit Award, National
Society of Film Critics Best Screenplay and Best Director, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Screenplay, New York Film Criticvs Circle Best Screenplay, Berlin Film Festival C.I.C.A.E. Award, for Drugstore Cowboy, 1989 Best Screenplay Independent Spirit Award, Deauville Film Festival Critics Award, for My Own Private Idaho, 1991; Oberhausen International Short Film Festival FICC Prize-Honorable Mention, Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award, for Ballad of the Skeletons, 1996.

In the late 1980s, Gus Van Sant commenced establishing himself as one of America's leading and most influential independent filmmakers. His films, often peopled with characters scuffling along on the fringes of American society, explore human feelings and frailties in often-understated fashion, and for the most part, Van Sant has proven himself a filmmaker with a deft touch. However, after the success of Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho, some observers were concerned that Van Sant's apparent predilection for examining the lives of society's outcasts might blunt and ultimately limit his vision. The release of To Die For in 1995, however, did much to silence such voices. The wicked black comedy—a skillfully rendered and executed study of a woman obsessed with stardom—indicated that Van Sant's body of work is in no danger of degenerating into formula.

Van Sant's first works, created in the mid-1980s, were a series of short and experimental films. His initial feature, shot on a shoestring, was Mala Noche, the story of a gay man's infatuation with an illegal immigrant. While these early films brought him a degree of critical attention, it was Drugstore Cowboy that established him as one of independent filmmaking's most authoritative new voices. The film's low-key tale of a pack of 1970s-era junkies in perpetual pursuit of drugs won near-unanimous accolades.

Two years later Van Sant released My Own Private Idaho, another story of American misfits on the margins of society. The quirky film concerns two male street hustlers, Mike and Scott (played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves), who embark on a journey to find Mike's long-lost mother. Together, Van Sant and Phoenix create a memorable portrait of Mike, a narcoleptic who longs for love. My Own Private Idaho, a bold, sometimes dreamlike tale, further cemented Van Sant's reputation.

In 1994, Van Sant released Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a film based on Tom Robbins's cult-classic book. Cowgirls was a mess in nearly every respect. A poorly executed and disappointing endeavor, it quickly disappeared from the nation's cinema houses. Van Sant recovered nicely, though, with To Die For, an adaptation of a novel by Joyce Maynard. Blessed with an inspired performance by Nicole Kidman in the lead role, the film is a withering black comedy that aims venomous barbs at America's television media and star-obsessed culture with deadly accuracy.

Van Sant then scored big with Good Will Hunting, one of the smash hits of 1997. This wildly popular story of a bunch of working-class Boston buddies, one of whom is a certifiable genius, earned accolades for the filmmaker, an overdue Oscar for Robin Williams (playing a psychologist), and fire-hot Hollywood commodity status for co-stars/co-scripters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Even though the film's title character, in his alienation and outsider status, is a typical Van Sant hero, the conventional tone of Good Will Hunting made it the director's most mainstream film to date. Unfortunately, his follow-up was a film that rivaled Even Cowgirls Get the Blues for its mediocrity: a needless and ill-advised scene-by-scene remake of Hitchcock's Psycho.

—Kevin Hillstrom, updated by
Rob Edelman

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Career: Director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and sound recordist. Assistant to Ken Shapiro (a director), 1975; producer of commercials for an advertising agency, 1981–83; member of band Kill All Blondes; previously worked as a press attache, teacher, and painter.

Awards, Honors: Los Angeles Film Critics Award, best independent/experimental film, 1987, for Mala Noche; Teddy Award, Berlin International Film Festival, best short film, 1987, for Five Ways to Kill Yourself and My New Friend; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, best screenplay (with Daniel Yost), 1989, Independent Spirit Award, best screenplay, Independent Spirit Award nomination, best director, National Society of Film Critics awards, best film, best director, best screenplay (with Yost), New York Film Critics Circle Award, best screenplay (with Yost), C.I.C.A.E. Award, Berlin International Film Festival, forum of new cinema, 1990, International PEN Literary Award, best screenplay adaptation (with Yost), and Critics Award, Deauville Film Festival, 1991, all for Drugstore Cowboy; International Critics Award (FIPRESCI), Toronto International Film Festival, 1991, Independent Spirit Award, best screenplay, and Independent Spirit Award nomination, best director, 1992, all for My Own Private Idaho; Freedom of Expression Award, Oregon American Civil Liberties Union, 1992; Golden Palm nomination, Cannes Film Festival, 1995, for To Die For; Golden Space Needle Award, Seattle International Film Festival, best short film, and FICC Prize—Honorable Mention, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, 1998, both for Ballad of the Skeletons; Academy Award nomination, best director, Directors Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding directorial achievement in motion pictures, Golden Satellite Award nomination, best director of a motion picture, and Golden Bear Award nomination, Berlin International Film Festival, all 1998, for Good Will Hunting; Outfest Achievement Award, L.A. Outfest, 1999; Heartland Award of Excellence, Heartland Film Festival, and Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas and Golden Berlin Bear Award nomination, both Berlin International Film Festival, all 2001, for Finding Forrester; Visions Award—Special Citation, Toronto International Film Festival, and Golden Leopard Award nomination, Locarno International Film Festival, both 2002, and Independent Spirit Award nomination, best director, all for Gerry; Filmmaker on the Edge Award, Provincetown International Film Festival, 2002; Golden Palm Award, Best Director Award, and Cinema Prize of the French National Education System, Cannes Film Festival, 2003, all for Elephant.